Love Me Deadly
by IcyFire93
Summary: Naruto is finally invited to join the famous Trio. Unfortunately for him, he falls heads over heels in love with one of his irresistible partners, Sasuke. NaruXSasu. Discontinued
1. When Time Matters

Disclaimer - I did not create Naruto in any way (though I wish I did). I doubt that the author of Naruto would have time to write fanfiction about his own characters.

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- Love Me Deadly -

Chapter 1 - When time matters

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Nov 16 - 3:47 A.M.

Sasuke would never have dreamt that this would happen. This was clearly not how he had expect the mission would go. Here he was, hanging in the air, just a few yards away from an easy death sentence. He was hanging onto Neiji's feet for dear life, while Gaara was clutching onto his. What was Neiji holding onto, you ask? He was holding onto a newly sprouted tree that was growing out of the side of the earthy cliff. They could all hear the loud cracking of the icy waves below. The waves slapped against the jagged rocks that sprouted from the ocean here and there and they could have easily pierced a human body if one were to fall into the icy clutches of the sea.

Sasuke closed his eyes, he had never felt so humiliated before. In almost every mission they had gone on, they had been able to accomplish it with little or no trouble. This mission had proved to be the most difficult one they had faced. Deidara was a very strong opponent. He should be coming any moment, ready to kill them all. Sasuke opened his eyes and turned his head to look out at the cloudy sky. The sun hadn't even come out yet and it wasn't going to come out until three more hours. He really couldn't see anything, there was no light to show them anything. The only things he could hear was death pounding in his ears.

If only Gaara would let go, then Neiji could have easily pulled the both of them onto the safety of the land, but that would have been too selfish of Sasuke to think that way. He sighed, wishing that he could be anywhere else than here, even going on a date with any of the bothersome girls who had taken a liking to following him around. Anything would be better than dangling from a tree, feeling like you had already died and went on to Hell.

Sasuke , no matter how selfish he was, wasn't stupid. He knew what Gaara was doing; he was trying to hold onto the last precious seconds of his life. But if Gaara didn't let go, all three of them would die for sure.

Sasuke didn't want to die. He had made it his mission for life that he wasn't going to die until he had killed his brother, Itachi. Gaara knew this, Neiji knew this, in fact, almost everyone who knew Sasuke well enough knew this. Gaara was not cold-hearted, though Sasuke was, and knew how important taking avenge on his brother meant to him, Gaara was a good-hearted person and wouldn't let Sasuke die without accomplishing his goal, especially since he knew how much it meant to him. Spending four years as partners had taught him many things – good things, bad things, but mostly things that he hadn't wanted to know.

All three of them held onto each other tighter, in Neiji's case, he tightened his grip on the tree, as they heard a whirring of noise grow louder and louder. Diedera had finally arrived and was coming to kill them in his helicopter. This was it. All three of them were going to die.

Neiji could easily have kicked Sasuke off and swung himself onto safety, but imagine going back to Kakashi-sensei and reporting that he was the only one who had managed to survive. He would have to bear the guilt of having killed two of his partners.

Sasuke could have easily kicked Gaara off, but he would have to carry the guilt of having killed off one his partners and soon people would call him the man-who-was-heartless, which he wasn't of course. If he didn't have a heart, he would have died a long time ago.

Gaara on the other hand, couldn't have kicked anyone off, seeing as he was the one who was in the most danger, but as the whirring of the helicopter grew closer, he knew who would be the one to die.

"Neiji," Gaara whispered, just loud enough to be heard by Neiji over the thundering waves. Neiji turned his head, so that he could hear better without losing his grip on the tree. Whatever Gaara was saying, it had to be important. Gaara knew that every word could cost him something – including his life. "Neiji," Gaara's throat tightened and as he spoke, his voice grew weaker and weaker, "Tell him… Tell Naruto I'm sorry." His grip loosened just as a gunshot rang out, and in that moment that Gaara had let go, Neiji was able to fling both him and Sasuke onto the safety of the cliff. And the moment that they could have been watching Gaara's body be crushed by the jagged rocks and buried by the erratic waves, they had ran for it, trying to save the lives that Gaara had sacrificed for.

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Nov 16 - 9:27 A.M.

Naruto flew down the stairs as he tried to make it to work on time. It wouldn't be the first time he was late, but he couldn't bear to see Sakura stare at him like he was the saddest creature alive. He wasn't and was going to do everything he could to prove it. No one, not even Sakura was going to pity him today. He looked at the calendar for a few seconds to see what goal he had made for today and noted a purple scribble - "1 year anniversary – Goal for the day: Get a new boyfriend"

He stared at it for a while, remembering that terrible day when Gaara had told him that they weren't meant for each other. Naruto hadn't spoken for days and although he didn't tell anyone (because he wasn't talking), he had cried himself to sleep for quite a few days. And then, to top it off, Gaara had announced that he had made a new girlfriend just days after they had broken up. Everyone was convinced that Gaara had been cheating on Naruto, but Naruto wouldn't believe it. Neiji had been sympathetic to him at first, and had comforted him for the first few days. And whenever Keiko, Gaara's girlfriend, had walked by, tossing her gorgeous green hair and giving Naruto a "I win, you lose, sucka" look, Neiji had tried to calm him down. Then he, so brilliant as always, had recommended him to show Gaara and Keiko that he could get over people, too.

"_Come on, Naruto, it can't be that hard. If Gaara broke up with you, it means that you too really weren't made for each other. If you guys were made for each other, he wouldn't have broken up with you. It's as simple as that," Neiji had concluded._

"_But what if I don't want to get over him?" Naruto had wailed._

"_Get a new life," Neiji had suggested, "Get a new boyfriend, get a new job. Get a makeover."_

_Naruto had thought about this and decided to follow Neiji's advice. He didn't, however, get a new life, or a new job, or a makeover. He had liked his life, job, and looks before Gaara had entered his life and he certainly wasn't going to change it now. Gaara had just made everything better._

Get a new boyfriend,_ Naruto had thought. _If that's what it'll take to make me become myself again, I'll do it.

Naruto have given it a try and failed, tried some more, and failed some more. It happened so many times, it wasn't even funny. It turned out that there weren't as many bi people out there as Naruto would have liked, and people were often grossed out by Naruto because of the accident that happened to him when he was just a baby. And then, to top it all off, Gaara proposed to Keiko only eight months after they had started dating. It was then, Naruto finally believed that Gaara had cheated on him.

Because of this sudden surprise, Naruto had promised himself that he would meet the perfect man for him on exactly November the 16th, a year after Gaara had dumped him. Naruto's eyes teared up as he remembered the fun times he and Gaara had shared and bowed his head down softly, slowing down for the first time that day. He stood there for a few seconds, trying to regain himself before stepping out of the door and closed the it behind him. _Click_. Naruto slapped his forehead; he had locked himself out again. What a way to start the day. He grabbed his bike and jumped on and started pedaling like a mad scientist as he zoomed across the street.

He tried not to think of Gaara, but whenever he tried to think of something else (like the human-eating squirrels that had been terrorizing Japan these days), Gaara would pop up into his head again and again and again. Naruto closed his eyes (a very dangerous thing to do when riding a bicycle, so don't try this at home) and tried very hard not to cry. Then, out of almost nowhere (remember, Naruto's eyes were still closed) something very loud screeched besides him and the next thing Naruto knew, he was flying in the air.

_Oh my god! I can fly! Look at me everyone! I wish Gaara could see me, boy, would he ever regret dumping me… Wait, I'm flying? _

Naruto skidded across the black pavement and didn't even bothering to try and slow himself down.

He sat up, groaned, and finally opened his eyes to see what he thought was (and what most of the world though) the hottest guy that ever lived. He had black hair that stuck up on the back of his head in a nice way, and Naruto could make out his muscles under his tight navy blue shirt. This was the guy that he was destined to be with. Naruto couldn't help stare at him with wide eyes and a gaping mouth.

The man's mouth opened as if to say something, but closed it again. Then he finally spoke, "Wha-," but Naruto gasped loudly.

_He's perfect. He's better looking than Gaara, has a nicer build than Gaara, and he has a nicer voice than Gaara. He's mine! _ Naruto thought before finally swooning…. Actually, fainting.

He awoke to the dim light of the hospital under the careful watch of Neiji, one of the better friends that he had. Neiji and Naruto hadn't always been friends. They had only become friends after Naruto had beaten him in a fight. Before that, Neiji had always thought himself higher them him. It was a good memory and it cracked a small smile onto Naruto's face.

"Thank god you're alive. If you had died, that would have made two…." Neiji sighed as if remembering some obligation. "Nevermind about that. Anyway, a spot opened up in the Trio and I asked Kakashi-senseii if you could become part of it. You sure can't take the job if you're dead," Neiji smiled. He stretched his arms and yawned, "We had to get up real early this morning, I didn't get any sleep."

Naruto sat up in delight, he had always wanted to be part of the San Shuusennin, the team of agents was famous world-wide and were considered to be some of Japan's hottest, sexiest, and most dangerous men around.

"Really? Did he really say I could join? Does this mean that one of the shuusennin doesn't want the job anymore?" His mind lingered to the only agent he had never met before, the once he had convinced himself to be the hottest, sexiest, and dangerous of the three, seeing as Naruto (no offense to Neiji) didn't think of Neiji as appealing as other people and that Gaara really wasn't very popular with the crowd. And according to Neiji, girls flocked Mr. Mysterious (that's what Naruto decided to call him) and stalked him, and did whatever girls do to try and capture a young man's attention.

"Yes, Kakashi-sensei said that you could join, given that you were strong enough. You are strong enough, right?" Neiji joked.

"Well, who am I replacing?" Naruto asked eagerly, or maybe not-so-eagerly. He wasn't sure if it would be fun to work with his ex-boyfriend, but then again, he might be able to prove to Gaara that he was better than Keiko.

Neiji didn't say anything for a moment and looked solemnly at the wall behind Naruto, "You know, I really don't want to be the one telling you this, but seeing as I'm the only one who knows you out of the three … of us, (there used to be four). " He lowered his voice, "Gaara died earlier today."

"That's impossible!" Naruto screeched. "It's only 10 o'clock!"

"He died before the sun was even up," Neiji broke off, looking even more somber, if possible. "He told me to tell you that he was sorry."

Naruto didn't say anything for a moment. Inside, he was screaming and kicking the floor, doing everything a 7 year-old might do when deprived of his mother, but he knew what was done was done.

"Naruto, he knew what the risks were when he took the job. We all did." Neiji stopped speaking for a while and looked at his hands, and the two of them sat in awkward silence, both not know what to say. What was he supposed to say? Instead of the anger he felt when he thought of Gaara, guilt and sorrow appeared instead.

"Did you stop the people who killed Gaara?"

"No, our target escaped," replied Neiji, _in a helicopter_. Neiji closed his eyes, he wanted to forget everything that happened. He hadn't excepted, he never would have imagined that any of the Trio would have died… Never... They were supposed to be invincible.

"Then I'll do it. I'll join. I want to kill that man. People like that deserve to be killed," Naruto replied, hotly.

"Great, now we'll have two murderous men on our team."

"Mr. Mysterious?"

Neiji laughed, "Yeah."

"Who does he want to kill?"

"Oh, just someone. He's a member of the Akatsuki like Deidara."

"Deidara?"

"That's the guy who killed Gaara."

"Oh, okay. So when am I gonna meet my new partner?" Naruto asked eagerly.

"Right away. Apparently he's the guy who you drove your bicycle into," Neiji rolled his eyes, "He's right. It's dangerous to ride a bicycle with your eyes closed."

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Please review!


	2. Introducing the Girls

Disclaimer - I did not create Naruto in any way (though I wish I did). I doubt that the author of Naruto would have time to write fanfiction about his own characters.

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- Love Me Deadly -

Chapter 2 – Introducing the Girls

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Neiji got up from the guest chair, and he and Naruto exchanged a few silent glances before Neiji headed towards the door and pushed it open.

"I'll go get him. I think he's in the waiting room." Naruto nodded. From someone else's point of view, he looked calm and prepared, ready to take on anything that was going to be thrown at him, but in reality, he was bottled up with excitement. In less than ten minutes, he had undergone a mixture of emotions – from joy to shock , sadness to grief, anger to excitement and anticipation for his new partner to come. A whole list of questions kept popping up into his head. Was he single? What was he like? Is he nice? What was his name? What does he like? What were his hobbies? And then of course, most important of all – Would this man accept him for who he was?

Naruto buried his face in his hands. He had longed to be accepted for who he was – ever since he was born. However, the villagers had hated him and kept their children away from him, so Naruto had a very lonely childhood with only mischief to keep him entertained. Childhood had only brought up sadness and grief. Things hadn't been a bowl of cherries, in fact, he had almost never had it easy in his life.

It wasn't Naruto's fault that he had certain qualities almost all the other children didn't have. His parents had been well-respected scientists who did all type of strange experiments for the well-being of human nature. They had been trying to come up with a liquor that could make anyone who drank it invincible. It had worked…. Kind of… Both his parents had drank it at a peril to their lives, and as their consequence, they had both died. However, the doctors were able to retrieve Naruto from his mother's womb, and miraculously, he had survived.

Naruto was different than the other kids his age. He could heal faster than any person in Japan by at least ten times their speed and he was also stronger than most other kids, too. He had proven both of these facts true. He was playing soccer at school when he was six, when he had kicked the ball so hard, it had exploded in mid-air. Back in the classroom, a classmate was so afraid of him, he had "accidentally" stabbed Naruto in the hand with a sharpened pencil. There was as much blood as anyone could have imagined if someone had been stabbed by a pencil, but the extraordinary thing was that Naruto's hand had completely healed (except for a small white scar) before someone could say "Naruto is a freakin' monster," which in fact, was what many people called him.

Then, when he was twelve years old, he had met Gaara. Friendship proved to be hard at first, but Naruto, finally finding a boy matching his past, was eager to become friends with him. They hadn't hit off at first, but because of Naruto's care, Gaara had changed from an insecure boy filled only with thoughts of killing people for fun to a generous, confident man who wanted to help as many people as he could. It wasn't long before Naruto realized that his feelings for Gaara were deeper than friendship. He wanted more. They were already eighteen by then and about to go to college…

The door opened and Neiji entered with Sasuke by his side (although Naruto still doesn't know that his name is Sasuke). Naruto's stomach turned as he looked at him.

"Naruto, this is Uchiha Sasuke. Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto," Neiji spoke, his voice similar to a policeman giving the umpteenth driver his speeding ticket. It seemed as if he had done this billions of times. His white eyes started at Naruto unblinkingly. Sasuke nodded, his eyes not portraying any emotion. It seemed as if he had come reluctantly, out of his own will.

"So what does it feel like ramming into people's cars?" Sasuke asked with no laughter in his words. Naruto felt as if he had been thrown and slammed into an icy cold room with spectators from all sides watching him, glaring at him, hating him. He was speechless. He didn't know what to say. He hadn't expected his (or who he thought was his) soul mate to be so cold… or start off with such a rude question. He hadn't even said it in a jokingly way, it was more like a sharp reprimand.

"If you're going to become a shuusennin, then you'd better start paying attention and not wonder off in your own little dream world. A mistake like that can cost you more than just your life," Sasuke continued, his eyes boring into Naruto's skull.

"Hey, today was just a rough day for me, okay? Back down, man!" Naruto defended.

"Huh…. Well, when you become part of the Trio, there is no such thing as a rough day, so tough it out! Every day is as demanding as the next."

"Oh, come on! Admit it, you had a rough day, too," Naruto said, trying to get Sasuke to say something a little not so serious.

"What do you have to say about whether or not I have had a rough day?" His voice grew shockingly softer, but it was soaked with malevolence. "I didn't ask you to scrutinize my life." He swooped out of the room and disappeared into the hall. _Oh yeah, _Naruto remembered softly, _Today was the day that Gaara died, the first time they have failed a mission._ Naruto's mind was telling him to follow Sasuke and say that he was sorry, but his body was telling him to stay rooted to the spot. _I can't believe it! It hasn't even been 2 minutes and we've already started fighting._

Neiji looked a little uncomfortable at Sasuke's rash actions and turned to fully face Naruto, "Don't worry about him… He's like that to everyone." He, too, turned around and left the room, following Sasuke. Naruto wondered, again, if he should follow them, but a nurse bustled in carrying a tray full of delicious looking food. Naruto's stomach rumbled and he realized exactly how hungry he was. He looked around for a clock and found one above the television. It was already half past twelve.

"He's a hottie, isn't he? You should stay longer. Hotties like that don't come very often," the nurse giggled and ran her hand through her almost waist-length blonde hair. "I'm Yamanaka Ino by the way," she lowered her voice, "Give him my phone number, too." She reached into the pocket of her nurse outfit, pulled out a pink-scented paper and handed it to him.

"Which 'black haired friend' do you mean?" Naruto asked cautiously. _Please let it be Neiji, Neiji Neiji…_

"The one with shorter hair that stuck out in the back like this," Ino made a quick motion with her free hand. Naruto's heart dropped.

"Oh, he… already has a girlfriend," Naruto lied, his finger tracing Ino's card.

"Oh," Ino smile got somewhat smaller, but it didn't disappear all together, "Well, that's a pity. Can you still give it to him when you see him?"

Naruto faked a smile, "Sure."

"Thank you," she smiled back, this time the corners of her mouth lifted higher, before she flaunted out of the room, leaving him all by himself.

Naruto sat there thinking about Sasuke. He had seemed so cold and distance. Perhaps his life had been outlined by tragedy and misery, but Naruto was sure that he could quickly cheer him out of his anguish.

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Two days later and several more visits from a very persistent Ino (she was trying to make sure that Naruto wouldn't forget to deliver the note), however, there were no more visits from Neiji or Sasuke, Naruto was finally out of the hospital.

Naruto peddled as if he had no worries in the world on his bike. He was going to take it easy today. No need to rush to work, no need to rush at work, and there will never be a need to rush from work… At least not today.

By the time he got there, Naruto could make out a few people already in the shop. He leapt off his bike and wheeled it behind the building before locking it in the bike cage. Then he entered through the backdoor into the employee room and quickly changed into his blue dress shirt and black dress pants, before pulling over the white apron over he head. He checked his hair, then his face, then finally his teeth – all good. Time to make an appearance.

As Naruto pushed the door open and walked into the counter, his mouth dropped open. Sakura wasn't there. Was she off on some errand? But that couldn't be, Sakura would never leave the shop without someone trustworthy watching. He walked a few steps forward, his head turning rapidly, trying to see if she was helping a customer, but he couldn't find her. Pushing the disturbing thought of kidnap and ransom away, he walked to the nearby cashier and started putting fresh, crispy money into it, ready to offer change to any awaiting customer. The "Employees Only" door swung open behind Naruto and he turned to see who it was. Sakura entered carrying a big box labeled "Colored Tape". Naruto let out a sigh with relief.

Sakura shoved the box into Naruto's arms which turned out to be quite heavy and instead of yelling at him like she would have usually done when he was late, broke into an embarrassed grin and tucked a loose strand of wet pink hair behind an ear. Her cheeks were rosier than usual and she seemed to be holding some happy bubble that was just about to burst inside her.

"Naruto! I'm so glad you came," she bent toward him and whispered, "There's a one-time hottie that entered the store and I've been dying to go talk to him. I'm going to see if I can get his number before he laves."

Naruto blinked, "What? Where?"

Sakura blushed again and ignored him. She brushed the air aside in a gesture, "You handle the other customers," she instructed, before she rushed off and disappeared behind an aisle.

Naruto stood there with the box in his arms looking stunned. _Alright,_ he thought to himself, _but she's got to add to my pay check….. _

He stood there for a moment, trying to figure out what to do with the box before he finally came to his senses and managed to actually start working. He polished the windows, wiped the counter, and as he was standing behind the cashier waiting for a customer to come, he finally had time to properly think._ Wait – shouldn't Sakura have asked why I didn't come to work the past few days? Shouldn't she have been worried?_ But apparently, she hadn't been. This guy had driven all her attention away from Naruto and into himself. This necessarily wasn't a bad thing, though, but considering Sakura's taste in guys…..

Naruto looked around in search of Sakura. Looking for her trademark, her bubbly pink hair, he finally spotted it at last – next to, oh no, what looked remarkably like Sasuke's hair. _Sasuke… _ He thought. _Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no! What if Sakura…_ He rushed into the employee's room, and looked at his reflection, trying to perfect his hair and other facial features, before rushing out again.

Once outside, Naruto straightened up and inhaled and exhaled for a few minutes before marching back to the front desk. _Naruto, time to strut your stuff!_

Naruto walked into the aisle where Sasuke and Sakura were busily talking, or rather, an excited Sakura was talking to a not-so-excited Sasuke. His first thought as he slipped silently into the aisle was _Oh my beloved god…_ Sasuke was wearing a tight black shirt, not unlike the blue one he had worn last time Naruto had seen him that showed off his chest laden with muscle. He also sported a black leather jacket that brought out his pale face even further. He had black, baggy jeans with silver and gold chains hanging from his waist. He stood there looking casual, but nice, slouching with his hands in his pockets. Naruto could have kissed him right there right then.

"Sakura!" Naruto greeted her loudly, "I was wondering if – Sasuke! What are you doing here?" He feigned surprise.

Sakura looked a little disgruntled at his appearance, but was careful to hide it. "Yes, Naruto? What do you need?" She tried to keep her voice at a friendly level, but it was hard. Especially when her eyes were glaring at Naruto in the utmost dangerous way. She was trying to send a get-out-of-here-Naruto and can't-you-tell-I'm-busy message to him.

"There's a customer looking for you," Naruto lied, he was trying to get Sakura to leave, as if it wasn't obvious enough, but she obviously wasn't getting the message. He had so many questions to ask Sasuke and he definitely didn't want Sakura to overhear them. These were questions like why Sasuke and Neiji hadn't come to visit him and when he was going to start his new job. And then, of course, try to show Sasuke that he wasn't such a clumsy fool as he had made him out to be.

Sakura's mouth tightened, "Can you please tell her… or him I'm busy?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, sure," Naruto turned to Sasuke. Time to put Ino's card to good use, "Long time no see, Sasuke," he smiled brightly, hoping he was making a good impression.

"If I had my way, it would stay that way," Sasuke grunted.

"Yeah?" Naruto's face fell, but he quickly lit it up with another silly grin, "Anyway, some nurse wants to date you." He thrust the pink card at Sasuke, and watched his expression carefully, trying to read his thoughts. If Sasuke was thinking something, he certainly didn't show it.

"I'm not interested," he reached out and dropped it in front of his face who instinctively reached out to catch it. Their hands brushed against each so slightly, that if they hadn't seen it, they wouldn't even have felt it. Sasuke pulled his hand away in a flash like Naruto's touch had burned him, but in a flash he acted like nothing had happened between them.

"You guys know each other?" Sakura asked, bewildered.

"Yeah, I came to tell you that Naruto's quitting his job. He has taken a job as one of the many personal assistants to the Hatake Corporations." Sasuke muttered all this in one long monotone, his black eyes not staring at either one of them, but rather, fixingly on somewhere in the middle.

Naruto didn't say anything, and at first, neither did Sakura. Finally she burst out clapping her hands together, "Naruto! I'm so happy for you. I really am." Then, turning to Sasuke, she asked in a flirtous manner, "So when does his job start?"

Sasuke peered at his watch, "In 10 minutes. We're going to be late," he nodded toward Naruto without even looking at him, "You were supposed to be here over an hour ago."

Naruto paled and looked at the ground. _Oops_.

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Please review! I read all of them and if you like, I'll reply to all of them, too. I want to have at least ten more reviews by next week, so PLEASE review. I love hearing what you guys think.


	3. Being Stupid has its Good Points

Disclaimer - I did not create Naruto in any way (though I wish I did). I doubt that the author of Naruto would have time to write fanfiction about his own characters.

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- Love Me Deadly -

Chapter 3 – The Highlights of Being Stupid

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Naruto let himself be carried away by Sasuke to the limousine waiting outside the shop. Actually, that was how it was going in Naruto's mind because in reality, Naruto was far from being carried by Sasuke. In fact, Naruto was skipping and jumping and hopping and doing almost everything he could to show his joy other than hugging onto Sasuke and never letting go, while Sasuke followed behind him with a grimace. He turned around in a half twirl and waved to Sakura who managed to give a small smile before turning away, her mouth twitching uncontrollably. This was not going to be the last time that she was going to see either one of them. They would meet again, perhaps sooner than later…

Once Naruto got into the sleek black car he finally started voicing the thousands of questions that had been driving his head insane ever since he had been released from the hospital.

"Why didn't you visit me at the hospital? I was so lonely there! There was no one to talk to," Naruto complained, getting rid of the biggest question that had bugged him ever since he met Sasuke.

"Why should I? Do you think honestly think I care about your wellbeing in the hospital? The only reason you are part of Trio 7 is because Neiji thought that you were the best candidate for it. I personally thought someone else other than you could have replaced Gaara," Sasuke stared straight ahead, avoiding Naruto's eyes.

"Awww, why are you so mean?" Naruto widened his eyes hoping to give Sasuke a good dash of his puppy-eyes look.

"Why should I be nice?" Sasuke didn't even bother glancing at Naruto.

There was an awkward silence between them… Or perhaps it was only awkward to Naruto as Sasuke didn't seem to be affected by this strange silence at all. Naruto, being the loud person he was, felt the need to break it, "How come I didn't start the job earlier?"

Sasuke was silent, debating over whether or not to talk to him. Their conversation was already giving him a headache, "Because we finally have a client. Without a client, we don't have a job. Isn't that obvious?"

"But aren't there usually a lot of people who want to hire the Trio?" Naruto asked, his hands clasped together, eager to hear Sasuke talk again.

Sasuke gave an exasperated sigh, "You can never stop talking, can you?" He pulled out a piece of paper and a black felt tip pen that had seemed to appear from nowhere and started writing on it. In a matter of a few minutes, he had produced a chart that looked somewhat like messed up Christmas tree.

He pointed at the large name at the very top. "This is Tsunade. She is the boss of the whole corporation." He pointed at the small label under her name, "She has the highest position and most respectable position as the daitouryou of the company."

Naruto was somewhat dumbstruck at Sasuke's neat print and looked up from the paper, "Huh?"

"Basically, she's like the president and is in charge of all the affairs that goes on. She has to do all the paperwork for the company. She assigns the teams their jobs for the week and so on. Tsunade also ranks the jobs from A+, hardest, to D, easiest.

"A+ jobs include assassinations, spy jobs, kidnapping, etc, while D jobs are more like painting walls, weeding, gardening, finding lost animals, etc."

Next, Sasuke pointed at the name below Tsunade's, "Shizune is the personal assistant to Tsunade. Tsunade trusts her with everything. When anyone wants to make an appointment for a mission or they need a tedious or dangerous job to be done, they go to Shizune. After she has collected a certain number of missions, she reports to Tsunade and gives them to her. She holds the second highest position in the corporation." He moved the pen down towards the three groups that had branched out from Shizune, "The hardest jobs are given to these designated groups, which we call the Trios."

Naruto's eyes widened, "So there are three of them?" Naruto hit his hand on his forehead, "I thought there was only one!"

Sasuke ignored his last statement, "There are four members in each team. In each group there is a sensei who helps the team along to help bring out the best of their abilities, although, I don't think they really do much." He pointed at a name near the right of the page, "In our case, it's a man named Kakashi. The three branches coming out of his name shows that we are under his care."

Naruto bent forward to read them, "Sasuke, Neiji, Naruto. What about the other groups?"

The car suddenly came to a slow halt. Sasuke said, "You'll meet them soon enough." He started shredding the paper that he had been writing on into small pieces that were soon no larger that one's fingernail.

"Wait, what are you doing that for?"

"We have to take extra precautions. This piece of paper contains enough information to provide a foundation for a plan that might put our company in jeopardy." He fingers twitched and a fire suddenly arouse from his hands, burning all the pieces of paper and leaving small pile of wispy ash in his hand.

"How did you-?" Naruto asked in amazement, but Sasuke pushed him out of the car, before stepping out himself. They were facing a building that was several houses wide, but only a story high.

"We've discovered from experience that a tall building isn't exactly the safest." He started walking forward, and Naruto, after taking another long glance at the building, quickly followed after.

"So, who's our new client?" Naruto asked eagerly.

"We're not allowed to talk about it outside the building. Anyone can hear us."

"What's with all this secrecy? It's not like some guy in a black suit will suddenly come out and start shooting at us."

Sasuke stared at Naruto with a look of such hatred and annoyance that Naruto quickly turned away.

"That's exactly what happened," he replied coldly.

They entered the building and the first thing that Naruto noticed was the large steel elevator opposite of him.

"Come this way," Sasuke muttered as he walked ahead, his face impassive as they moved toward the elevator.

"There's only one story, so why is there an elevator?"

Sasuke turned around in such fury, yet again, his voice was no louder, but no softer than usual, "Questions, questions, questions. That's all you have in that tiny little brain of yours. Don't you have any common sense in you? Be patient. Wait for the answers to come to you. When you're out there fighting, there _is_ no time to think. You just have to do it, do whatever you need to do." With that, he walked on, this time, with anger sketched all over his face.

Naruto's felt his eyes start to sting. He blinked a few times and quickly walked on, trying to halt the tears that were coming slowly, but steadily into his eyes.

Once into the elevator, Naruto noticed that the elevator didn't look like any ordinary elevator and Sasuke soon confirmed that.

"Over here, we have boxes full of weapons. If you press the combination – 1837492, it will open. Remember that; it will prove to be useful," Sasuke turned the dial, all traces of acrimony were gone. The metal plate popped open with a _ping_, and when Naruto looked inside, his stomach dropped. There were guns, bombs, knives, swords, basically any weapon you could imagine. "The reason why the elevator is where it is, is because if we were under attack, we could run into this building through the front door, straight into the emergency elevator and we would be safe."

Sasuke pressed a bright blue button to the very left and the doors started closing, but stopped half way leaving a very small door space that was slightly under a foot wide. "This device was made, so that if we wanted to shoot out we could. This also slims down the chance to less than one percent of us getting injured by an enemy." He had barely touched the blue button again before the door slid firmly shut.

"Wow, that's so cool!" Naruto reached to touch the button, but his hand was slapped away by Sasuke's.

"It's for emergency uses only. Don't go playing around with it for fun." He moved back, away from Naruto and pointed to the buttons to the right of the elevator. "This elevator is also bullet proof, but it's no exception to machine guns. However, other than that, it's like a regular everyday elevator."

Naruto's mouth fell open, "You call _this_ a regular everyday elevator? It's like some kind of safe place."

Sasuke's mouth formed a thin line, but he didn't say anything. He pressed level 12 and Naruto suddenly realized something.

"This building! It's all underground isn't it?"

Sasuke smiled, "Right, dobe."

Naruto fainted.

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Naruto opened his eyes to what seemed like a young lady with bright blonde hair towering over him.

"Hyuga, do you really think that he's fit to become an agent? He seems kind of dopey to me," she poked him hard on the shoulder as if he was some kind of dead animal.

"Hey, watch it!" Naruto yelled, his hand thwacking out.

"He _is_ like a wild animal. He has no coordination at all," the blonde woman concluded.

"Naruto, meet your new boss, Tsunade," Sasuke introduced with a slight smirk hovering on his face.

Naruto immediately blushed when he saw him. Sasuke….. He turned away in embarrassment to face Neiji, "How'd I get here, anyway?"

"You fainted in the elevator, so Sasuke had to carry you all the way to the hospital wing," Neiji replied, "If I had known you could faint so easily, I wouldn't have nominated you as a candidate. Why'd you faint?"

What should Naruto have said? Sasuke looked so cute when he smiled that he couldn't help but faint? Even in his mind, Naruto knew where not to cross the line. There was only one thing left to do.

"I…. I…. I thought I saw a knife reflect off one of the walls in the elevator…. And there was this man wearing a red polka dotted suit with a very curly mustache who looked like he was going to throw the knife at me and I thought I was going to die. Then he took out this machine gun from his right-hand pocket and started firing it at me and an elephant came flying out of it with a trapeze artist doing the splits on is back, while holding a bunch of mice in her hands that were doing the Nutcracker." Naruto took a deep breath, "Then all the little mice started running toward me and this huge cat came pouncing after them, but the cat wasn't chasing the mice. These big huge tiger-eating moths were chasing after them, and I hate butterflies, and well, moths look kind of like butterflies if you squint…" He glanced over Tsunade who had her eyebrows raised so high, you couldn't tell if they were her eyebrows or belonged to the category you call "Hair". Neiji's eyes were blank as usual, but the corners of his mouth were turned down. Naruto couldn't even imagine the look of bewilderment and hatred on Sasuke, but it was Sasuke who broke the silence.

Rich , deep laughter filled the room. Naruto felt as if it was washing away all his worries and agonies far away from him and it brought a large smile to his face. His heart was lighter than it usually was and he felt that nothing could falter the love and happiness between them. (Ladies and gentlemen, this will be only the first of Naruto's daydreams.) He turned his head to look at Sasuke who had bent forward, one hand on his knee, the other covering his mouth. His eyes were closed, but the joyous sounds that were coming out of his mouth were inevitable.

Sasuke glanced up and saw Naruto watching him, "You are the stupidest man I have ever known," he laughed.

But despite these insults that Sasuke had thrown on him, Naruto felt as if it was worth being the stupidest man. Only the stupidest man could make Sasuke laugh so_light-heartedly__,_ as if his heart wasn't made of ice.

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Please review! I read each and every one of them and they all mean something to me. I hope you all have a merry merry Christmas (for those who celebrate Christmas), and for those of you who don't, I hope you will have a fun break! Have fun baking those cookies, for you cookie-bakers. Send some to me!


	4. To Stop Time

Disclaimer - I did not create Naruto in any way (though I wish I did). I doubt that the author of Naruto would have time to write fanfiction about his own characters.

A/N: I've dedicated this first portion as thanks to all my readers. You do not have to read this, but I just might have mentioned your name (if you gave me a review)… Also, I had to rush this chapter, because I have to go to San Francisco today, so I wasn't able to edit it again. Sorry, I'll try to edit it tomorrow, so if you want to see a better version of this chapter, wait until Monday.

Otherwise, scroll down 'til you see "Chapter 4" and start reading… Another thing that might be helpful to some of you, I put the date of when I will most likely update the story on my profile and where I'm at. (Ex: Writing, typing, first edit, second edit). **Thanks for reading and please take the time to review when you're finished.**

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I would like to thank several people for being totally awesome. You can't ask someone to be more than that.

**The Frozen Silence** –Thanks for being a bestest friend… That's the only word that can really describe your all of your personality. It's always fun talking to you. All your comments mean so much to me (especially about the one where you said you love Sasuke… I felt soooo proud of myself! XD). It's fun listening to you rant/scream about stuff. *cough cough* Cedric *cough cough* I'm gonna turn you into a die-hard Sasuke fangirl by the end of he year. I promise!

**Head of the Chimeras **– Thanks for being a great dictionary and thesaurus **and** friend (when you aren't doing homework)… But you really have to work on your peer mediating skills… They don't work.

**The Girl who wants to be Japanese** – Thanks for being a great friend. You've been really supportive all year round. You give the best compliments ever! (BTW, I don't know if you still want to be Japanese, but at least you did last year.)

Thanks to **cfox **and **Midnight Shining Star** for giving me awesome reviews for every chapter so far. I always look forward to reading your reviews when I submit a chapter. They really make my day. Thank you.

Thanks to **Because I'm Me, Mizuki Hikari, Fairy Blue, ****Naruto713-17****, Time goes on, ****LoversPastForgotten****, ****XxTypoMasterxX****, ****PageTurn****,** **shadow'ofthe'night 13****, Lily in a Pond, jPoPlUVr689, **and** jessica** for all taking the time to review. Thank you! I enjoyed reading all of them, even the one-word reviews. ;)

And last, but not least, thanks to all my readers out there for taking the time to read it. I couldn't have written it well without you.

Now on to the story…

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- Love Me Deadly -

Chapter 4 – To Stop Time

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Tsunade cleared her throat, adding some noise to the somewhat besetting silence that had aroused from the small gathering of people after Sasuke, realizing exactly what he was doing (which happened to be laughing, something he had never done 'til now), suddenly shut up.

"Well, there are these two members of the Akatsuki that I would like you to go kill," Tsunade swallowed, "They have already killed plenty of innocent, well, maybe not that innocent people including one of our beloved sensei, Sarutobi Asuma. The trio have already been promoted from his guidance and have already gone to kill them."

"So who exactly are we trying to kill?" Neiji asked, his eyebrows so close together they looked like one single, black line.

"They are both missing-nin. From what we have gathered. Hidan, the second most newest member of the Akatsuki, is apparently immortal, but Shikamaru has been working on a strategy to overcome that particular barrier. Kakuzu, partner of Hidan, is a missing-nin from Takigakure and we learned that he is quite greedy. His entire body is strung together with thick, black thread. Kakashi has gone with them to help Shikamaru with his plan, but I'm worried that they will have trouble for the Akatsuki are all formidable enemies. They left early this morning; if you quickly leave right now, you should be able to make it in time. I'm sending the other trio with you. So pick your weapons and after I tell you how to get there, you're leaving in," she took out a pocket watch laden with silver and gold, "five minutes. I'm giving you two extra minutes since you," here, she looked straight into Naruto's eyes, "are new here, but this will be the only time that you will have this extra time." She turned to the other two members. "The car leaves in 5 minutes. If you don't make it, you'll just have to run the whole way, but _you_ already know that." She stood up and moved towards the door.

Once the door closed behind her, Neiji and Sasuke both sprinted together for the door, and within seconds, Naruto found himself all alone. He stared at the door in disbelief before finally removing the heavy layer of blanket off his body and moved quickly towards the door. He flung it open just as Sasuke came crashing into him. They tumbled backwards with great velocity for Sasuke had been running down the stairs at top speed in order to make the time limit.

"Urgh," they rolled for a bit (which translates to exactly 3.1415926535897932384626433832… seconds) and finally came to a stop at the foot of the bed with Naruto lying on top of Sasuke, his head on his chest. Naruto closed his eyes for another 3.1415926535897932384626433832 seconds, wanting to stay like this forever. Sasuke struggled to get up, but Naruto lifted his head and met Sasuke's narrow, onyx eyes with his big, blue eyes, which caused him to stop. They lay like that for a few more seconds, but those few seconds felt like an eternity to Naruto.

And during those few seconds, Naruto felt that it was the perfect time to do something he had been longing to do after he had set his eyes on Sasuke, something he wasn't sure that Sasuke would approve of.

Naruto lowered his head, wanting to capture Sasuke's lips, but as he came down, Sasuke suddenly grabbed Naruto by the shoulders, pushed him to the left and jumped up.

"We have just a little over two minute left," he murmured quietly, and Naruto, who hoped he wasn't hearing things, thought Sasuke's voice sounded a big softer, not really as harsh as it usually was… And was there or was there not a touch of sadness in his voice?

"But, I haven't even gotten any weapons yet!" Naruto whispered, afraid to break the momentary unspoken magic (was it magic or was it something else?) between them.

"I've already gotten them for you." Sasuke left the room at a graceful sprint, which Naruto gratefully followed after.

"We usually use the stairs because its faster than the elevator at times," Sasuke explained, before jumping up a whole set of stairs in less than a second.

Naruto dashed after him, concentrating on not to trip over anything, trying to prove to himself that he wasn't a loser as what most people thought he was. But in his mind (as he was gallantly running up the stairs), the deepest part of his mind, he wanted to stop everything. Stop time itself. Everything was happening way too fast for him to comprehend. Too fast for him to think about everything that was happening. What had happened back in the Hospital Wing with Sasuke? Had he known what he was up to? Was that why the reason why he had reacted the way he did?

In a little under a minute, they managed to climb up five whole sets of stairs that were each split into two sections.

Pushing open the door to the main lobby, they dashed in just as Tsunade was entering a limousine twice as long as the one that Naruto had arrived in. Sasuke saw this as a sign to start panicking and let out a string of swear words that Naruto had never even spoken in the private space of his bathroom.

"If we don't make it before she shuts the door, we're so dead," Sasuke groaned as he sprinted out the heavy glass doors, and Naruto managed to follow swiftly at his heels. "I've never been this late before," he heard Sasuke curse under his breath.

Just as Tsunade closed the door, Sasuke grabbed hold of the door handle and lowered himself inside. He was nice enough to keep the door open long enough for Naruto to enter before firmly shutting the door.

"I was about to think you guys would have to chase us down. It would have been a very entertaining spectacle to watch," remarked Tsunade.

"I don't ever intend to make a fool of myself like that," Sasuke muttered nonchalantly.

"Yes, well, we all have our bad days.

Naruto, this is Inuzuka Kiba," a tall man with brown spiky hair, red paints on his face, and a long, black jacket nodded," Rock Lee," a man with a bowl cut and was wearing green spandex nodded, "and Aburame Shino," was the man with dark sunglasses and a grayish-greenish jacket with a high collar that covered his nose and mouth. He was also wearing a hood over his head, so Naruto really couldn't see what he looked like.

"You forgot Akamaru," Kiba interrupted in a friendly growl that could have passed for a dog's. He pointed at a dog twice as large as himself that was sitting with its head in Kiba's lap.

"And Akamaru," Tusnade continued, "This here is Yuhi Kurenai, she used to be their sensei." She looked at Naruto as she said all of this, introducing to him all the new members he didn't know. "I'm dropping you all off here," she took out a very detailed map and pointed at where they were going to be dropped off, "Shikaru should be fighting Kakuzu and Hidan here. You guys should head here to help them," she pointed at yet another place on the map. "Remember that."

"Wait, can you repeat that, please?" Naruto asked, a bit confused.

"We're here," a gruff voice from the front of the car announced.

Sasuke pushed Naruto headfirst out of the car. Naruto stumbled a bit, but quickly regained himself as he found himself facing what looked like a vast ocean of rocks, boulders, cliffs, and trees that sprouted in what seemed like the most random places. He turned back and saw the black, sleek car driving off. He watched it for a few seconds, and when he turned back to look at the endless land, he found six dots ahead that represented people at least a hundred feet away from him, disappearing into a thick grove of trees to his left. It took him a while, to realize that his teammates had just left him.

With a cry of outrage and frustration, he ran after them, but it proved to be a hard job with rocks that came up to his shoulder and trees five times as thick as him planted every which way. Before he knew it, he was going in circles. He scrambled onto the nearest rock and looked around, trying to find any trace of his teammates, but they had disappeared. He sat down in dismay, and much to his surprise, he found a footprint to the right of him. Standing up again, he studied the footprint and was soon sprinting again in the direction of the footprint's direction. As he ran, stumbled, leaped, and looked, he realized that he was actually pretty good at this scouting business He _could_ find the others. He _would_ find the others, and he would catch up to them as well. There was a sudden yell of pain to the left, so Naruto made a sharp turn on a tree branch and was soon tearing through the trees to find the owner of the cry.

Before he knew it, he was in a large area with where boulders and cliffs replaced the numberless tress there had been just a step away. There were his teammates, along with a gray-haired man who looked quite young, but not as young as the other people standing several feet away from him. All three of them looked in pain and extremely tired. There were four other people, all quite ugly looking, whom Naruto quickly placed under the well-known category, "bad guys." He took a deep breath and jumped into the air, "Hope I'm not too late."


	5. Out of Reach

Disclaimer - I did not create Naruto in any way (though I wish I did). I doubt that the author of Naruto would have time to write fanfiction about his own characters.

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Love Me Deadly

Chapter 5 – Out of Reach

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Everyone on the fighting grounds was holding at least one type of weapon. Sasuke held a bulky gun in each hand. The weapons didn't quite seem to suit him as he painted an awkward picture. Naruto would have imagined Sasuke with a gun that had a more elegant style, but still keeping a collected and indifferent touch. These bulky guns were just the opposite of that.

Neiji held several sharp looking weapons that looked like protractors with jagged edges, and Naruto felt certain that it wouldn't take much to keep him from throwing them. There were also a four pairs tied to each ankle, so that it looked like he was wearing barbed contraptions designed to cause pain to anyone he kicked.

Kiba also sported two guns, but these beauties were more like cannons than anything else. They were large and were strapped onto each arm. He was sitting on Akamaru and had pointed both guns at the hideous man who had spikes protruding from his back.

Rock Lee had two small rifles in each hand with two more tied to his waste incase they were to run out of bullets or gunpowder. He looked very flexible indeed and showed about as much excitement in fighting as Naruto did, which was a great deal indeed.

Tiny black dots were spread across Shino's face and hands. To Naruto's amazement, they turned out to be an indescribable amount of miniscule bugs that seemed to move at Shino's will. Naruto would have to ask him how he did it some time.

Kurenai seemed to have disappeared all together. There was a fat man panting behind Sasuke on the ground, and the man dressed in a black T-shirt that stopped a few inches from his stomach had sweat pouring from his face. He caught Naruto staring at him and, to Naruto's surprise, blushed before quickly turning away. Naruto mentally froze in dismay. He turned to Sasuke to see if he had seen what the strange girl-looking guy had done.

Apparently Sasuke hadn't, either that or he was pretending he hadn't, for all he said without meeting Naruto's eyes was, "I picked out the smallest and easiest gun for you to use. I wasn't sure if you could handle anything bigger." With this said, he had tossed him a tiny gun that was as big as Naruto's hand.

Naruto looked up from the gun. He didn't know if he should thank him or glare at him for insulting him, so he did both, which in the end, resulted in him looking and sounding like a strangled cow.

Sasuke gave him a funny look and then returned back to his earlier contract of avoiding Naruto's eyes.

Then, without any sort of warning, the fighting began. It wasn't like anything Naruto had ever experienced. The brawls he had gotten himself were diminutive compared to this.

Not only were there bullets of all different sizes and speed whizzing through the air in every direction, needles as long as your little toe, shurikens, and missiles were being fired all around him, too.

Neiji called out to him, "Naruto, make sure those needlettes don't hit you. You'll be knocked out before you can even grimace in pain. They can also kill if they hit a vital spot."

Naruto nodded as a large, black pointed thing grazed him on his right arm, causing blood to spurt out. He cursed and quickly pressed his hand on his wound to stop the blood. In a matter of seconds the wound had disappeared all together. His parent's sacrifice was not going to be a total loss, but everyone else didn't have the same blood as he did. Any one of his friends could die including Sasuke… This wasn't some sort of game. Those people wanted him dead – like Gaara.

He looked around, trying to find Sasuke and found him kicking off trees, already in a hand-to-hand, or a gun-to-gun, combat with the unknown furry man. Suddenly someone burst into the clearing from the trees, and not wanting to miss any action, Naruto immediately pointed his gun at the trees and started firing. The teeny gun, like Sasuke said, was quite easy to use and the bullets came out with ease. A black haired man with his hair tied up in a ponytail rolled out looking extremely exhausted just as a scary man jumped out behind him, catching all the bullets like a fisherman's net catching all the fish. Naruto start shooting unjustly again, this time at the blonde with the evil smile.

The bullets Naruto had fired just a while ago had shot through his body and wedged themselves into the trees behind him. Naruto stared at the gun in shock. How could this tiny little gun produce a bullet so fast yet so strong? But ignoring this thought for now, he concentrated on what was happening to the smooth-faced man. If he had been any ordinary criminal, he would have been lying face down on the ground as alive as any ordinary rock. However, he wasn't. The missing-nin was still standing there as if nothing had happened. The bullets had drilled holes in him like how it was designed, but the man didn't look like Swiss cheese, as any other man would have. Naruto could see the man's body slowly healing, mending all the torn flesh until all that remained damaged were tiny circles that were torn off the man's clothes, so that anyone could see his unblemished, pearly white body.

Naruto grimaced. What kind of people were they fighting against?

The black haired man turned to him. "It's his heart. The only way to kill Hidan is to take out his heart. The bullets have enough power to easily be able to do it."

The fat man rushed over to the black haired man as soon as he saw it safe. "Are you okay, Shikamaru? We thought you died."

Shikamaru laughed, but Naruto would have hardly called it a laugh. It was more like a stifled cry, "I wouldn't let what information Asuma got us to be wasted like that."

The man dressed in the black top, the other teammate of Shikamaru, came over to help support him. Turning to Naruto, he smiled, "I'm Sai, this is Shikamaru here, and this is Choji."

Before Naruto could reply, Sasuke interrupted them.

"This isn't a time for introductions," Sasuke snapped behind him, "Maybe once we're out of harm's way…"

Naruto, feeling some color coming his way, quickly covered this, "What harm's way! We're going to _totally_ kick their ugly asses!" He then changed his confident face to a suddenly over-sympathetic expression, "Oh, but if you're scared.. Don't worry, Sasuke, I'll beat the crap outta them. I won't let them hurt you."

Sasuke grunted. "You should be more careful with your own ass," he spat, but he left to help Kurenai defeat the shadow men.

A sharp knife suddenly whistled through the air. Naruto barely saw it out of the corner of his eye and leapt aside, but not before the knife tore off a great portion of his arm. Wincing, he raised his gun and started firing rapidly at Hidan. Each bullet managed to hit his body, but only half of them would have counted if they were to be judged in some sort of contest because most of Naruto's shots just barely skimmed Hidan. The closest bullet (to his heart) he had managed to fire was two and a half centimeters away from Hidan's heart. The farthest was a bullet that had just barely marked Hidan's ankle. A great deal of Naruto's shots hit Hidan's shoulders, but he managed to fire one that hit the middle of Hidan's forehead. It wasn't a very pleasant sight to see as Naruto could, for a few seconds, look straight through the hole in Hidan's head and see the scenery behind him, but this wound, like the others, healed not a second slower than the other wounds.

"Neiji," Naruto suddenly hissed when a dangerous thought flashed through his head, "Exactly how many bullets does this gun have?"

"Well, there are exactly 200 bullets to begin with," Neiji replied, rather slowly in Naruto's opinion for something as important as this, "Do you see the small yellow number facing you right under the circular button? That's the number of bullets you have left."

Naruto quickly located it. It was right above his thumb. The number 17 flashed dully at him.

"Oh, I found it…" 17 shots left… 17 chances… 17… suddenly he felt someone grab the gun, a cold, smooth hand wrapped on his. He turned around to find Sasuke standing less than an inch away from him. He inhaled sharply from shock, but Sasuke cared not enough to notice. He lifted the gun at Hidan, aimed, and fired once, pressing his long, elegant finger onto Naruto's childish one. Sasuke let go of the gun and Naruto's hand with it as he watched Hidan clutch the hole in his chest where his heart ought to be and fall to the ground. This time the wound did not heal and he did not get up. His heart, a bloody organ indeed, was pinned to the boulder behind him by the bullet.

Sasuke went over to Hidan, knelt down and placed a finger on Hidan's neck. After prodding Hidan a few times with his foot, Sasuke stood up and left the now almost deserted area. The other members had all managed to disappear to another area of the deadly land in the few seconds Sasuke had fired the gun.

Naruto stared sadly at the gun. He hadn't managed to hit Hidan's heart in 183 shots while it had only taken Sasuke one. He felt so depressed, but quickly went to look for the others…

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Naruto pushed his way through a large bush; he could hear the gunshots now, the whizzing of weapons in the air. The porcupine man was still there, but where his other accomplice was, Naruto did not know.

He saw Sasuke suddenly leap towards him upon his immediate arrival carrying genuine fear in his eyes. They were soon lying on the pine-covered ground back in the woods with Naruto on top of Sasuke for the second time that day. He adjusted his weight to his arms and legs and placed his hands firmly on the ground beside Sasuke.

Naruto stared at him, demanding an explanation for what had just happened, but he received nothing. Sasuke just lay there, his eyes wide with fear and worry, looking completely vulnerable… and absolutely adorable. Naruto couldn't take it anymore. This was the perfect chance, a chance he probably wouldn't get in a long time. He leaned forward and pressed his lips onto Sasuke's and received nothing more than he expected. Cold, icy lips that felt like marble. It was like kissing a beautifully carved, marble statue. Sasuke wasn't doing anything. He wasn't reacting. He was just lying there with his eyes open, the same expression he wore before Naruto kissed him. Naruto frowned and, reluctantly, got up . Still nothing.

He poked Sasuke on the shoulder, and when Sasuke still didn't react, a horrible image crossed his mind. What if Sasuke had died to save him? Impossible. Staring at Sasuke's black eyes, he bent down to close them. _If he _was_ dead, _Naruto thought, _it wouldn't do any harm to make the most out it… _ A nearby bush rustled and Neiji, accompanied by Sai and the gray-haired man jumped out.

"There's… There's something wrong with Sasuke," Naruto half-whispered, half-screamed in agony and frustration. The gray-haired man bent down and put a hand onto Sasuke's forehead.

"Kakashi-senseii," Neiji asked.

"I don't think he's dead just yet. Neiji, you better check up on him."

Neiji nodded and suddenly it struck Naruto how Neiji's eyes had suddenly intensified.

"There's a needle sticking out from the left side of his hip," Neiji spoke.

Kakashi saw to it that the needle was immediately pulled out and carefully examined it. "Poison," he spat, "Nothing more than the usual, I hope. We need to get Sasuke to the hospital right away."

"And Kakuzu? What about him?" Sai asked.

"Dead. Shikamaru just killed him," Neiji said without any hesitation, the intensity in his eyes were still there.

"Then we should get going." Kakashi tossed Sasuke's limp body over his shoulder and was soon sprinting away.

"In a matter of minutes they were back at the spot where Tsunade had dropped them off.

"This counts as an emergency," Kakashi showed Naruto a small pager explaining the appearance of the large ambulance awaiting their arrival. "Get in."

Naruto stumbled in as he watched Kakashi carefully lower Sasuke's body onto one of the four beds in the back of the vehicle. He immediately felt dizzy with guilt as he watched the never-ending amount of blood squirt out from Sasuke. He turned away to avoid looking at it. It could have been him lying on the bed instead of Sasuke, withering away.

"This is a very surprising turn of events," Neiji observed behind him, "Sasuke is what I thought to be a very selfish man. I would have never believed him to give up his life so easily – especially for another person." Seeing that Naruto didn't reply or react in any way, he continued, "You know what else I noticed? The gun he gave you. It was his favorite. He carries it with him all the time. That gun is so powerful that the bullet will go through the first object it hits no matter the size or density. Even a ten foot thick boulder would not be able to challenge the power of that gun. That makes it very dangerous. You can kill yourself if you aren't careful. He must have believe you could handle it."

"That's not what he told me," Naruto mumbled., "He said it was very easy to use."

"It is, but it's also very dangerous. I don't think he meant to give you that gun. He had brought along two much simpler and weaker guns that I had assumed were meant for you. Something must have changed his mind."

Perhaps, Naruto hoped, perhaps it was because Sasuke cared for him. Perhaps, Sasuke felt for him. This wasn't going to be over soon. He turned back to look at Sasuke.

Kakashi saw this and spoke, "He should be alright once we get there, he's lost quite a bit of blood, though. We have to remove the poison from him once we got there, too."

"When will he return to consciousness?" Naruto asked.

"I don't know. The earliest is probably two days from now."

Naruto didn't reply. He didn't see how he could.

That night, he held Sasuke's gun close to his heart and cried for him and for Sasuke.


	6. Sai's Time

Disclaimer - I did not create Naruto in any way (though I wish I did). I doubt that the author of Naruto would have time to write fanfiction about his own characters.

A/N – I have decided to update every Monday instead of Sunday. It's a lot easier for me.

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Love Me Deadly

Chapter 6 - Just Beyond

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It had been nearly a week since Naruto had started working for the Ha Corporation and Sasuke still hadn't woken from his deep slumber. Naruto, who worried about him every other minute, visited him every single day. When he inquired the doctors about when Sasuke would return to consciousness they answered in uncertainty.

"We think that the Akatsuki added a bit more to the needles than just ordinary poison. We're trying to figure out how to distill the most obvious effects it has on Sasuke," a doctor had told him the first time Naruto had asked him, "He's still alive. His heart is beating, but we feel – no, it _is_ becoming weaker and weaker as time goes on. Unless he does not wake up, there is no doubt that he will live on."

Naruto had rushed to see Sai after this; they were on good terms now. A big part of this was because Tsunade had separated Naruto's group until Sasuke's health returned. Naruto had joined Shikamaru, Sai, and Choji to form a quartet, while Neiji had joined Lee, Kiba, and Shino.

Life had continued on as usual for Naruto, but not before taking a sharp turn in a different direction. A check had arrived three days after the fight with Hidan containing a nice sum of two thousand, three hundred and sixty dollars. This was a lot more than the usual amount of money he earned in Sakura's shop in a month. This wasn't Sakura's fault, of course; she was quite a generous woman. Using the money he had just earned, Naruto had happily paid the large quantity of money he owed his landlord, then ran off to go to eat at the famous restaurant nearby, buying everything that seemed tasty. However, no sooner had he done just, an enormous amount of guilt swallowed him, leaving him feeling ashamed that Sasuke wouldn't be able to enjoy his rightful earnings as Naruto had.

When he told Sai this, he had scoffed and told Naruto to take his mind of him.

"You've been obsessing about him for two days straight! Give it a break! Please," Sai had said. But Naruto couldn't stop thinking about Sasuke, and everytime he passed the Hospital Wing, he couldn't help but enter and stare at Sasuke's godlike face for a minimum of a full thirty minutes. The longest was two hours straight.

Naruto couldn't help it. It was if someone was possessing him.

"I swear, you're like a school girl having her first crush," Sai had commented when he had found out, Naruto had no answer, so he didn't say anything.

Other than gloomily dreaming about Sasuke, Naruto had managed to accomplish many things. He had cleaned the small of his apartment in his spare time - which had grown increasingly as no new assignments had come. And Sai had started inviting himself to Naruto's house and had settled down, cleaning out his refrigerator.

Naruto always went to the Ha Headquarters, as Naruto liked to call it, to "chill." He spent more than an hour exploring the many rooms and had taken a liking to practice in the training room where he practiced shooting and dodging. Then, after that, he would go to the gym and work on the treadmill and the other equipment it offered.

Soon, Naruto was able to go from any floor and grab his gun and other needed equipment and rush to any waiting limousine in less than three minutes as was expected of all Ha Agents. Naruto had also memorized the entire layout of the building and prided himself to be able to answer any question that was thrown at him. He had tried to cram every second of his life full with beneficial things to keep himself from thinking about Sasuke as Sai had suggested, but it still didn't stop him from visiting Sasuke early in the morning.

Sai had accompanied most of Naruto's activities, but never did a blush arise from his cheeks again. Naruto was thankful for this. However, as said before, Naruto always devoted himself to seeing Sasuke before he started his training. He would have liked to see him afterwards, too, but Sai had taken a particularly liking of following Naruto around and always talked him out of doing anything that contained the word "Sasuke", so Naruto had kept his morning outings a secret.

It became harder and harder for Naruto, however, because Sai would come earlier and earlier to greet Naruto and see what he was up to. In the end, Naruto had to wake up at five and leave if he wanted to be able to watch Sasuke in peace.

Another thing Naruto found himself irresistible to was that the more time he spent watching Sasuke, the more he wanted to reach out and pull him back to life. Soon Naruto found himself caressing Sasuke's face, touching his hair. Next, he was holding Sasuke's hands in his, feeling the comfort of his warmth, a sign that he was alive. After several minutes or so, Naruto would slowly lean forward until his face was just inches away from Sasuke's. Then Naruto would just stare at him, soaking all his beauty in, unable to go on.

He would then have to go and hide at around six thirty, waiting nervously for Sai to come ant taunt him about why he had come so early. Naruto disliked this very much and by the fourth day, he had taken to avoiding Sai.

However, on the fifth day, a mission had come, desiring two sets of bodyguards to guard a man of extraordinary wealth and success and his family during a party he was to have. The man had suspicions that a certain rival was plotting to murder him. However that the extent of Naruto's knowledge. Tsunade had not discussed the entire situation in detail with the agents, and Naruto did not ask for any more.

So it was set, Kakashi-senseii took them all to buy new tuxedos which caused Naruto to wonder what Sasuke would have looked like. Extraordinarily handsome, of course, the black of the suit would bring out his eyes and his features would become ever so much sharp. Then, they picked out their weapons – Naruto still carrying the gun Sasuke had tossed him – and hid them in their clothes so they would blend in during the party. The afternoon passed rather uneventfully. They arrived at four, an hour early, to the client's party to set up their protective equipment.

Forty-five minutes after the people had started arriving, the client came towards them and asked them to blend in some more and relax a bit.

"You guys look too much like guards!" he complained, "I don't want my guests to be frightened by you."

Naruto thought that this was very controversial with what he had told them before and that he missed the fact that they were indeed guards, but did what he was asked and turned to Neiji, who was beside him, and started chatting amiably.

In truth, Neiji and Naruto hadn't spoken much to each either since the separation of their Trio as they were both busy with their own things and Sai had taken much of Naruto's time.

It wasn't long before Neiji brought up the subject of Sasuke, but Naruto didn't shun it away like when Sai brought it up. Neiji showed actual concern for Sasuke's well-being. It was obvious that Neiji cared for Sasuke, too.

"If he died, it would be the second person in a month," Neiji exclaimed, "Our reputation would be ruined with all our agents dying, but in truth, I am sure Sasuke will not die."

"Why?" Naruto curiously asked.

"Well, if Sasuke was going to die, he would have died several days ago. His heart should have stopped working two days ago, as the doctor has probably already informed you, but it hasn't. Tsunade told me that every day, early in the morning, Sasuke's heartbeat would become stronger… 'strong enough to last him the whole day. It's as if he's fighting, as if he has a will to live. But then, slowly as the day progresses, his heartbeat slows down and weakens… As if the thing he's waiting for hasn't come.' These were her exact words," Neiji answered solemnly. "Naruto, Sasuke is a fighter. He has many things he hasn't accomplished yet. One of these goals is to kill his brother."

Naruto frowned.

"His brother, Uchiha Itachi, killed his whole clan, leaving him the only member left."

"You mean his brother killed his parents, uncles and aunts, everyone?" Naruto replied, aghast.

"Yes."

"When then, when does his heart start strengthening?"

"Well, today, it sped up at five. By five thirty, it was steadily going stronger, according to the graphs, until it was such a level, but then it stopped and retreated back to a weakened level… 'as if he had expected something to happen and as the moment drew closer and closer, his heart would beat faster and faster,'" Neiji 's voice was so soft now, his pale eyes staring straight past Naruto as if in deep thought. "That means he's not fighting for his brother. There's something else, but…"

"But then why hasn't he woken up?" Naruto asked, jumping to the most bothersome question that had been pounding his head ever since this conversation with Neiji had started."

"This is what Tsunade told me herself," Neiji was about to begin when Naruto interrupted him.

Naruto was beginning to feel that there was nothing good about Tsunade. (How wrong he was.) What was so special about her? Why could she decide these things when other couldn't? "Stop with all the Tsunade!" he cried, "Tell me what you think!"

Neiji saw that Naruto had no respect for the great woman and was a little annoyed with Naruto's little intelligence, "Naruto, Tsunade is a most respected and remarkable woman. She's the wisest, most well-known doctor in the world. There's almost nothing she cannot heal and it's thanks to her I'm alive." Naruto opened his mouth to speak, but Neiji raised his hand and continued, "Without her, Sasuke wouldn't even have a working heart to keep him alive. The poison dart turned out to be much more deadly than we could have expected."

"Then why is Sasuke still unconscious," Naruto repeated in frustration.

"Tsunade told me that his body is working perfectly, but there's something wrong with his brain, his mind."

Naruto froze.

"Tsunade cannot solve this problem. She is not an angel. Sasuke has to do it himself," Neiji continued, but more to himself than to Naruto.

"What do you mean? What are you talking about?"

"It's like he's trapped in a place where he can see, hear, everything that's going around him, but he can't do anything about it. He can't move. He can't speak. Nothing. Someone must do something to trigger him, an action that will cause him to try to break the barrier between him and the world harder than ever."

Naruto immediately lingered over to this morning. What could he do to trigger such a powerful heartbeat? What was Sasuke waiting for? What was _he_ waiting for? What did he want? Naruto pondered upon this, unaware that Neiji was closely watching him

Neiji, impatient for Naruto to figure out things, decided to give Naruto a more obvious hint, "Naruto, I meant to tell you this earlier, but you always seemed so occupied," he glared at Sai for a moment before continuing. "I was watching the videos of you and Sasuke to see if anything interesting did happen… and something interesting _did_ happen." Naruto blushed. "I'm sure Sasuke has the same feelings you have for him." Naruto opened his mouth to speak, but Neiji ignored this as usual. "He's nicer to you, for a fact. Perhaps not noticeably different to a stranger, but I have known him longer than most people have and I can honestly say that he cares deeply for you, more than anyone else. But it's up to you how to close the gap between you men." Here he seemed to smile, "I'm sure Sasuke will be up and walking by tomorrow. Oh yes, and I think that you are the only one who can awaken him." He made to leave.

"Wait! What do - "

"What do _you_ want?"

Naruto wanted Sasuke to wake up, so he could confess his feelings towards him, before Sasuke died, and see if Neiji was telling the truth. That was it! If that didn't work… Naruto didn't want to think about. He looked up to tell Neiji that he had come up with an idea, to thank him for all his support, the only support he had gotten, but Neiji had left to make rounds around the house and mingle with the guests.

Neiji – he was such a good friend, bringing so much hope to Naruto when he thought there was none. Neiji – he had so many problems of his own, yet he had time to help Naruto with his own problems. Naruto's spirits rose and when he finally found Neiji, he thrust his hands around him and thanked him over and over again. To this, Neiji looked a bit shaken and embarrassed at the same time, but not at all in a bad way.

"Stop that!" He had whispered, but Naruto could tell his friend was pleased, "We're in public you know!" And then he had walked away.

Sai who had seen all the interactions between them rather suspiciously, came over to interrogate Naruto. "I never knew you and Neiji-san were acquainted," he remarked.

"We're really good friends. In fact, it's because of him that I got this job as a Trio agent," Naruto replied rather stiffly.

"Oh," Sai hesitated before continuing on, "How good of a friend?"

"One of the best. He's very supportive in everything I do. I couldn't really ask for anyone better."

"You think that Neiji-san deserves all this attention from you," Sai stated solemnly.

Naruto was about to question why he cared, but changed his mind, "He's done more for me than I can ever repay him."

"What did you guys talk about?"

"Sas-ke…"

"Sasuke?"

"Nono! Sake, we were talking about the different types of sake that there are in the party and which ones were good and which ones were bad," Naruto smiled and quickly hurried away. There was no trouble at all that evening. He and the rest of the gang were thanked enormously by the client, who was convinced that it was because of their presence that no one had dared attack him.

Once the limousine finally came to a halt at the door of the HQ, Naruto ran out, into the building, and down the stairs as the elevator was currently in use. None of the agents said anything about it, but Neiji was suppressing a smug grin and Sai looked a bit worried and walked after him as fast as he could without breaking into a run.

Meanwhile, Naruto burst into Sasuke's room and ran to his bed and picked up Sasuke's hands and clutched them tightly in his own.

"Sasuke, Sasuke! I know how to save you! You'll be ale to move and talk and just be back before you know it," he said breathlessly. Naruto could feel the faint pulse in Sasuke's hands grow stronger and quicker. Neiji's words ran through his head and gave him more confidence. "Sasuke.. I.. I…. I…. I think….. Sasuke, I.."

The door burst open and in came Sai looking quite exhausted. He moved towards Naruto and shoved him roughly towards onto the wall.

"Stop trying to make Sasuke come back to life! It's no use. You'll just be more hurt when it doesn't work!" he yelled.

Naruto was completely taken aback and choked down a cry. He had been so close. "Sai.." he muttered.

"Don't you see? It's not meant to be!" Sai yelled. They stared at each other until all you could hear were the three hearts beating in unison. Naruto stood against the wall, painfully, with Sai's hands next to him on either side of his head. He was unquestionably afraid and as the time ticked on, he grew more and more fearful.

"Sai," he whispered, "Please stop."

But Sai just leaned forward, grabbed Naruto and roughly pushed his mouth on the other.

Naruto's eyes squinted together in pain and agony as he tried to push Sai away, but it was to no avail. The other man was way too strong.

Both of Sai's hands were in all the wrong places now, probing and poking and squeezing everything he could get his hands on. Naruto could feel the tears swelling up in his eyes as he tried to scream, but the only thing that came out was a muffled shriek.

Then all of a sudden, a cold voice rippled through the air, "If you guys are going to make out, don't do it in my room."

Sai backed off and turned around. Naruto opened his eyes as all the tears he had been holding back started running down his face, "Sasuke…"


	7. Confessions and Confusion

Disclaimer : I do not own Naruto or any of the characters in Naruto. However, Keiko is mine! MUAHAHAHA… you're gonna hate her sooner or later…

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Love Me Deadly

Chapter 7 – Confessions and

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"Well, aren't you guys going to leave?" Sasuke commanded, harshly.

"Sasuke. You're… You're awake," Naruto sobbed.

"Of course, I am. You don't have to inform me of whether or not I'm asleep or awake, I think I can figure that out for myself…. And stop crying. It's humiliating to see a man of your age and status cry." Naruto sniffed and tried to contain himself. Sasuke was right.

Sasuke turned to Sai, "Are you going to leave or are you going to start crying, too?" Sasuke threatened menacingly. To this Sai chose to leave. They both knew well who was stronger of the two, although Naruto didn't, and it wouldn't take much for the stronger man to kill the weaker one.

Once Sai was out of the room, Naruto walked to Sasuke and whispered a soft "Thank you."

Sasuke looked a bit paler than usual, but he answered in his cold manner as before, "For what?"

Naruto's mouth opened, but all that came out was, "Uh….." Didn't Sasuke know? Hadn't Sasuke purposely awoken to free him from Sai's grasp? Apparently he hadn't.

After a minute of awkward silence, Sasuke's mouth parted enough for a few words to come out, but Naruto beat him to it. "Sasuke, didn't you hear anything while you were…"

"Hear anything? I was unconscious, baka! People who are unconscious don't tend to hear or feel anything."

"I know that, but…" What happened to the explanation that Neiji had given him? He had been ready to confess his sudden love, but now that Sasuke showed no such signs of returning any such declared love, all his courage had disappeared in a flash. "Well then, what did you do while you were unconscious?"

"Haven't you ever been unconscious?"

"No."

"It's like you had this whole section of your life wiped out of your memory. Kind of like when you're asleep, but without any dreams or thoughts to bother you."

"But you weren't unconscious," Naruto stated.

Sasuke twitched, "Then what was I?"

"You were trapped in an endless black world. You were a prisoner…. of your own mind," Naruto said dramatically.

Sasuke didn't say anything. Naruto clapped his hand to his mouth. What had possessed him to say those things? They had come out from nowhere. Then, more words came out, "Something happened, though, while you were imprisoned."

If Sasuke was shocked, he didn't show it. "Nothing that concerns you," Sasuke answered coolly.

"But something did happen," Naruto pressed.

Sasuke looked away.

"What! TELL ME!"

"Why? This has NOTHING to do with you," Sasuke cried.

"It has everything to do with me."

"The more reason not to tell you."

"Sasuke," Naruto whispered. His voice was deeper as he said this - huskier than usual, although he did not know this. Whatever its effects were, it worked.

Sasuke closed his eyes, "It was pure torture being trapped. I could think properly, but I had no idea what was happening around me. I couldn't see or hear anything or anyone. Everything was pitch black. It was like being shut into the largest room possible with all the walls painted black with no windows or doors. There was nothing to do, but to think, but thinking just made everything worse; it was painful. I kept wondering about the endless possibilities that could have happened, that could be happening right then. At times, I wanted to die and I think I almost succeeded. I could feel myself fading away." Sasuke sighed, his voice was so low, so sad. Naruto watched in agony, trying to control every fiber in his body from leaping over to Sasuke and hugging him.

Sasuke's voice had returned to its softness and it seemed to light the room with warmth. Naruto edged closer to him, but Sasuke didn't notice. His eyes were still closed as if in another world. His eyebrows were furrowed as if in deep thought. "But then something strange happened. Before, I had spent those endless hours in coldness, but then warmth came, light. And that gave me hope. I would try to find it, try to go closer to it, but I could never reach it. But then, after a while, it would become grow warmer and warmer, and brighter and brighter, and soon it was reaching out for me. But it always disappeared and I had to cling onto that little hope I had. I could count in my head. There was nothing else I could do, but wait for something to happen. I could barely walk. I couldn't tell the difference between up and down in my head, nor could I sleep. I couldn't do anything."

Sasuke sat in silence, and Naruto did not bother to disturb it. It was a while before Sasuke continued again, "But today, something different happened. I saw something, a vision I suppose. It felt as if I was alive and walking again. There was my brother, and there was I, unable to do anything. I had… a dream."

Naruto was unable to decipher the meaning of this and didn't need to bother to ask for Sasuke continued on.

"When I was seven, my brother murdered everyone in my clan, but me. 'To see what he was capable of.'" Sasuke spoke this harshly. "I didn't find out until it was too late. It was horrible. I have nightmares about what happened that night still."

"What happened.. in this dream of yours?"

"I was there, stronger, however, and he," Sasuke suddenly opened his eyes. A new light dawned on him, though it would be a lie to say it was a good one. "You're still here?"

"Uh…."

Sasuke's eyes widened as if he couldn't believe that he had just poured a section of his life to Naruto. "Well, if you're not leaving, I am." Grasping the edge of his covers, he got out, showing his half-naked body. Naruto, unable to control himself, walked towards him, but Sasuke was out of the door and disappeared in a flash leaving Naruto in shock. He sat on the edge of the bed; it was still warm, and Naruto wrapped the blankets around his body, feeling the welcome warmth it provided. What should he do next? He didn't feel like going home. Not when Sai could come knocking at the door any minute. Besides, he needed to think this over, think about everything that had happened. He needed to talk to some one, and who could be a better than Neiji.

Naruto picked up his cell-phone and pressed 2 - that was Neiji's number for speed dial. 1 had been Gaara's, but…

"Hyuuga Neiji speaking, how may I help you?" A voice answered.

"Neiji, you will never guess what happened to me!" Naruto cried.

"Sasuke woke up?" Neiji said calmly.

"No!.. Not that, I mean. Oh, Neiji. Something horrible happened."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean so many things, but I want to leave here, now. Can I stay at your house tonight?"

Neiji was silent for a while as if he was contemplating about it. Finally he spoke, "I had a disagreement with my family several weeks ago and have been living at a friend's house these past weeks. I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you stayed here a bit for his home is not an ordinary house, but a huge estate. He hasn't been home for a week, though, so if you want privacy, it won't be an issue."

"Wonderful! What's the address?"

Neiji told it to him quickly and later had to repeat it several times until Naruto memorized it by heart for he could find neither pen nor paper.

"I'll be there in a minute," he replied, before hanging up. He ran to the elevator and waited for the door to open. When he did, he couldn't have been more surprised.

"Keiko," he grimaced, "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here as a visitor," she smirked as she pointed to a badge clipped on her blouse. She brushed him off roughly as she walked by, her evil smile growing larger.

Naruto rolled his eyes before entering the elevator and noticed the strong smell of perfume that Keiko had left behind. He scrunched his nose up and frowned.

Ten minutes later, he had driven one of the company's sports cars to the large estate. It was huge and an enormous mansion was planted on top. There were flowers planted everywhere and a huge, green lawn stood neatly trimmed before the house.

Staring out, he wondered what it would be like to live here, before pressing the fancy doorbell.

The door opened and who was standing behind the door, but Sasuke… HAHA, just kidding. Neiji stood behind the door looking as he always did. "Come in."

"WOW! This is the largest house I've ever stepped foot in. It's even bigger than your family's estate. Your friend must be very rich."

"Of course. All of his relatives, his family, anyone who was related to him was quite rich and when they all died, all the money, the land, the property, went to him as the sole survivor of the clan. So he knocked down several of the houses next to his and rebuilt this one house. Then he rented the other ones out." Neiji led him to a nearby living room. As they passed through the rooms, Naruto couldn't help but feel the plainness of all the rooms, the emptiness, the feeling of loneliness. It swept through him in a painful way.

"So, tell me what is troubling you," Neiji finally spoke as he seated himself into one of the large, comfy armchairs.

"It's Sai," Naruto burst out.

Neiji groaned and hit his forehead with the palm of his hand, "I didn't think he would try and rape you this soon. I should have…"

"No, no! It's not like that. It's… Sai's not that bad," Naruto defended.

"Oh, just get on with it, but I still don't trust him."

"So you know, right after I went to see Sasuke because… you know."

"Oh, I can already see where this is going," Neiji groaned.

"Anyways," Naruto ignored him, "I was just about to do it, but then Sai came and, well, I think he meant well, but…"

"He kissed you."

"Well, yes and…"

"Started making out with you…"

"Err.."

"Then he - "

"NEIJI! I don't want to relive it, okay? "

"This is all my fault. I should have prevented it. I could have prevented it. When he got out of the car to follow you, I think, I could have stopped him."

"Neiji, it's not your fault," Neiji took a deep breath, "Sasuke woke up. In the midst of this all, and well, what happened afterwards makes everything even more confusing."

Naruto began to describe everything that had happened while Neiji listened intently. When Naruto got to the part when Sai left the room, Neiji laughed.

"I bet he was trembling, too!" he clapped his hands together in laughter.

"What?" Naruto asked, clearly confused.

"Everyone knows that Sasuke and I are both the toughest agents around. Sasuke could easily kill Sai, I'm sure, even if he was just recently injured. It's best not to anger him. Continue with your story Naruto, for I doubt that you have even begun."

So Naruto did. Afterwards, Neiji took it upon himself to analyze every detail that happened. They went into a deep conversation late into the morning about what everything meant.

"This is really different from what…. I had guessed. We'll look it over tomorrow. The security cameras probably caught all of it."

"Erm, Neiji?" Does Tsunade look through the film?"

"I don't know, but I'm pretty sure that the doctors do. They check to see if the patient, in this case, Sasuke, have changed in any way. Or if he has healed or something changed internal, they will look up the time to see what happened to trigger a certain action."

"Oh, no," Naruto buried his face in his hands.

"What's the matter?"

"That means that anyone who watches the tape will see me and Sai making out and that can - "

Neiji stood up, "Don't worry about it, Naruto. Get some sleep. You look tired."

Naruto yawned, "Yeah, I am.. Where am I gonna sleep?"

An evil grin flashed across Neiji's face, but it happened so fast that Naruto couldn't tell if it was some illusion that had happened because of his lack of sleep.

"Follow me."

Neji led Naruto up a marble stair case near the main entrance to the house and turned left into an almost empty room, but then, almost all the rooms were quite bare. "You may rest here for now; I think you will enjoy it very much." He smirked before leaving. Naruto studied the room, trying to figure out why he would "like it very much." The walls were bare and the only objects in the room were a large mattress with dark blue blankets folded neatly into a square at the edge of the mattress, a table made of what looked like polished oak, and a black computer of the latest model. To the left were two doors that looked like replicas of each other. Naruto assumed them to be a bathroom and a walk-in closet. Naruto, too tired to put these luxuries to good use, immediately fell upon the bed, unfolded the blankets, and fell asleep without even taking off his tuxedo as he breathed the soft, familiar smell of something that Naruto couldn't quite place his finger on.

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Naruto opened his eyes to see the room alight. The digital clock above a door read 1:42 P.M. He closed his eyes. It took a moment for Naruto to comprehend where he was, how he came here, and why he was here. That was when he noticed that he had wrapped himself tightly around something hard, yet soft, something that hadn't been there in the morning. He began to feel it. It was furry, soft hair sprouted from the top of the object. It had eyes, a nose, a mouth, Naruto opened his eyes and gasped. He was staring straight into a man's naked back… Sasuke's naked back. He leapt up and jumped over the body, curiously looking at Sasuke. He was asleep like he was just yesterday yet his face was so much more relaxed, so much more peaceful. He was so much more alive, his chest was rising up and down and Naruto could hear him breathing. Naruto leaned forward to place his hands on Sasuke's face and was just about to kiss the sleeping beauty when a funny smell reached his nose. Alcohol. Sasuke was as drunk as a sleeping toad. No wonder.

Naruto straightened up and went to the bathroom to take a bath. He opened the door and walked into a whole roomful of clothes. Sasuke's clothes. Black, blue, white. Naruto flipped through the assortments, his heart beating faster. This couldn't be Sasuke's room, could it? Yes, it could. This explained Neiji's funny behavior. _I think you will enjoy it very much._ This also explained why Sasuke was here.

Naruto turned back to Sasuke and nudged him on the shoulder. Sasuke moaned, turned around to face the wall, and continued to sleep on. It looked like Sasuke wasn't going to wake up any time soon. It would have been more fun if he did, Naruto thought.

He sighed and went back to the closet and looked for some clothes that he could borrow. H settled with a pair of dark blue jeans with a silver chain, an oversized blue t-shirt, and some nice clean, white boxers. Perfect. He entered the large bathroom and after putting his new clothes on the counter, turned on the faucet. Hot water swept into the smooth tub. Naruto sighed contentedly before quickly stripping and tossed his clothes aside to the ground. He turned off the taps and lowered himself into the steaming tub. After sitting there for a while, relaxing, he found some shampoo and poured some into his hair and started scrubbing it vigorously. It smelled of vanilla, just like the faint smell of Sasuke's hair. Naruto breathed it in deeply and closed his eyes. This was heaven. He dipped his head in the water, letting the soap suds disappear in the water before finally rinsing them out. He reached to grab the soap and started scrubbing himself when the door clicked and opened. Sasuke entered with a white towel hanging around his shoulders, clean clothes hung over one hand, and the other hand clutching his forehead. He didn't seem to notice Naruto at first as his eyes were half-closed. When he did, he let out a strangled cry, "AUGH!"

"WAHHHHHHHH!" Naruto replied, quickly covering a certain body part.

"AUHHHHHHH!"

"WAHHHHHHHH!"

"AUHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"AUHHHHHHH!"

"WAAAAAAAA-"

"Oh, shut up!" Sasuke seemed to have gotten control of himself, but the hand that had been on his forehead now covered his mouth in shock. "What are you doing here?"

"Neiji let me stay here for a while because… well.." Naruto stopped talking

Sasuke just stood there, his eyes boring into Naruto's eyes, causing Naruto to begin to feel a bit uncomfortable. "Err… What are you doing here?"

"This is my house, baka."

It was? Things began to connect in Naruto's head. Of course, it this was Sasuke's room, then this was most obviously his house. Naruto almost laughed at his stupidity.

"I'm almost finished. If you could just leave…" Sasuke left immediately, his face flushing to a deep red. Naruto quickly finished up and changed into Sasuke's clothes. It felt a bit weird, foreign. He studies himself in the mirror and found a more - cool - looking Naruto staring back at him.

He left the room and found Sasuke waiting on the bed.

As he entered, Sasuke looked up and frowned, "Aren't those… my clothes?"

"Yeah, I didn't think you would mind. I really don't have anything else to wear. Do you have a laundry basket?"

"Yeah, in the bathroom."

"Here, then." Naruto dumped his clothes onto Sasuke's lap. Sasuke picked up the topmost garment and his face flushed into a deeper red if it was possible, as he realized that it was Naruto's undergarment. "You're not wearing my… my…"

"Oh, yea. Hope you don't mind."

"Sasuke didn't say anything, but quickly disappeared into the bathroom.

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A/N – I found it very interesting that a lot of this chapter wasn't supposed to happen. Before, I was going to title this chapter – In honor of Security Cameras, and have it where Sasuke goes and looks and the security cameras and discovers what really happened. And then he destroys the one where Sai and Naruto are making out, etc. But the entire plot for this chapter changed. Then I was going to do it for chapter 8, but I decided to make it so that the rest of this chapter is going to go to chapter 8. (hint : Keiko) Sorry I haven't updated it sooner, but both my mom and my dad are a bit pissed off at how much I'm on the computer. I'm also a bit stressed out with schoolwork, so my next chapter won't come out until two weeks from now. Anyways, I want to thank you for all the reviews I got since I last updated!

There will probably be a total of ten chapters in this fanfiction and there may or may not be a sequel. I honestly have no idea, so it will be up to you guys to decide when I finish this. So… Please review!


	8. Kisses From Keiko

Disclaimer: Naruto doesn't belong to me, this I'll gladly guarantee.

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- Love Me Deadly -

Chapter 8 – Kisses From Keiko

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Occasionally stopping to admire the view, Naruto walked up and down the brightly-lit halls of the large residence. It wasn't until he caught a scent of mouth-watering waffles that he began walking down the countless stairs. His stomach growled causing Naruto to remember exactly how hungry he was. He broke into a run and when he finally reached the dinner table, he grabbed a hold of Sasuke's dark blue shirt to slow himself down.

"Ahh!" groaned Sasuke, "What was that for?"

"FOOD! FOOD! FOOD!" Naruto shouted as he jumped up and down just like he did ten years ago, before seating himself in one of the fancy chairs and dumped several of the homemade waffles onto his plate.

"Naruto, you're supposed to wait for everyone to be seated and served before eating," Neiji scolded as Naruto wolfed the waffles down.

"But - I'm - HUNGRY!" Naruto gasped in between bites. "More syrup!" Sasuke sighed and handed a bottle shaped in a maple leaf to him and watched him drain the small bottle onto the remaining waffles until it was more than half empty. Naruto looked up and noticed Sasuke staring at him. "Oh, I'm sorry. Did you want some syrup?"

"I don't like sweet things," Sasuke replied as he solemnly shook his head.

"Sit down, Sasuke. Relax a little. No one's going to jump you here," Neiji chuckled as he neatly cut up his own waffles into small, even pieces before carefully stabbing a piece with his fork and lifted it carefully into his mouth before chewing it carefully, "Aren't you hungry?"

"No, not really," Sasuke replied, touching his forehead softly. This small, almost unnoticeable act caused Naruto to remember that...

"You were drunk this morning, weren't you?"

Neiji looked up from his plate and raised his eyebrows, "Really. Sasuke, you don't usually drink, unless..."

Sasuke didn't say anything.

"Oh, that reminds me. Where did you sleep this morning?"

Sasuke frowned, obviously wondering how this could possibly affect his life, "In my room, of course. Where else? You don't expect me to sleep on the ground, do you?"

Neiji didn't say anything for a moment, but Naruto had an idea what he was up to and was about to speak, but Neiji continued interrogating Sasuke, "On the bed, right? You slept on the bed?"

"Yes..."

Naruto felt himself sliding down the chair, falling into a pit of never-ending embarrassment that seemed to increase with every second that passed between them.

"Because if I remember correctly, Naruto - you were sleeping on Sasuke's bed, too."

The Naruto-puddle's eyes widened, "Eh? That was _only_ because you told me it was a guest room!"

Neiji turned back to Sasuke who was now clearly frowning. "You slept on the bed," he confirmed Sasuke didn't say anything. "And you slept in the bed." This time Naruto didn't say anything either. "Yet neither of you noticed the other."

"Well, I noticed him when I woke up," Naruto squeaked, "Doesn't that count?"

Neiji sighed, "You're so clueless."

Naruto jumped up and pointed at himself, "Me?"

"Yes, both of you. Bakas," Neiji spat out.

Naruto stood up. "I'm not a baka, you teme!" he whined.

"If you don't do something soon, then you are a baka in my eyes," Neiji lowered, "And Sasuke? You are a baka, too, if you don't realize that…"

"Neiji," Sasuke interrupted calmly, "I do not care if you think I am a baka or not. Your opinion of me does not change the fact that I am no baka. I see no point in doing something, or in this case, realizing something, so I won't. You can not hold me as a baka for that."

"You don't know how much you're missing out on," Neiji replied softly.

"But I do know how much I am _not _hurting because of my subdued actions," Sasuke replied, his voice just as icy, just as dangerous as Neiji's. They were all standing up by now. Naruto looked back and forth from one to the other, trying to figure out the hidden message that the two obviously both knew.

"Then I hope I will be able to persuade you otherwise."

"Why do you care so much?" Sasuke's eyes narrowed, "Haven't you already done enough harm?"

"What harm have done? It is as much my affairs as it is yours." It seemed to Naruto as if a battle was raging on between them, one where more clashing and clanging than any other; one where more than blood was lost. Yet neither of them raised their voices louder than Naruto's quietest voice (which is very quiet, I can assure you of that). Their voices had a sharp, dangerous edge to it. Their eyes that seemed gentle at first glance, carried weapons that bore into one's face, their faces that seemed expressionless when first studied upon contained hidden bombs that could be easily set in a matter of seconds by just a twitch of the eyebrow.

"Ehh…" Naruto scratched his head, "Any one up for more waffles? I'm sure Neiji can cook some more if anyone's hungry."

"No," they replied unanimously.

"More milk? Orange Juice? Anything?' Naruto asked in another feeble attempt to stray his partners from their disagreement

"No…."

"Do you – "

"No…"

"Hey! I haven't even asked the question yet!"

The doorbell rang.

Neiji flinched, "I think it's Tenten. I asked her to go to Rumiez with me last night."

Sasuke and Naruto stared blankly at him.

"Like on a date. Didn't I tell you before?"

Naruto shook his head. Sasuke made no movement that he was listening to any of this conversation and just adjusted his head so that he was staring out of the window before he replied, "You better go, it's not nice to keep your date waiting."

"Sasuke, consider it."

"Consider what?" Naruto questioned, having again no clue whatsoever that was happening.

"I already have and I don't… I don't think that it… I'm not that type of person," Sasuke looked away from the window to Neiji and repeated, "You should go answer the door. I am sure Tenten would not be very content with you for having waited so long. It's already a known fact that she has been continuously rejecting you for five years. I'm surprised she even accepted this time."

"It's a long story," Neiji began.

"Just go!" Sasuke growled. Neiji rolled his eyes, but left the dining room as was expected of him.

Naruto watched Neiji leave the room and motioned for Sasuke to follow him. Sasuke let out an inevitable sigh, but unmistakably followed him to the large, marble hall where Naruto had first entered the house. The two of them watched Neiji quickly cross over to the front door with much more animation and joy that the two of them were used to seeing and carefully opened the door with about as much posture as the most etiquette butler had.

Unfortunately for all three of the men, it was not Tenten would stood behind the door, but another lady who had been currently admiring the house with much pleasure and much evil intent. Naruto's mouth fell open with shock.

"My guest," Sasuke muttered and strode over to greet the guest. Naruto followed after with much resentment, but he managed to keep his mouth closed and into a firm line that did not betray any sign of a grimace even though that was what Naruto really wanted to do.

"Sasuke-baby!" Keiko squealed when she saw Sasuke appear from behind Neiji. Neiji's mouth, like Naruto, was also pressed into a thin line, but he held out a arm anyway, and offered to escort Keiko to the living room. Keiko scoffed and took Sasuke's arm, which had not been offered, and when they passed the Naruto-puddle, she gave him a look of such absurdity that it caused him to melt even more.

It wasn't until Neiji came back for him and told him that unless he go immediately to the living room, something terrible was going to happen, (meaning that Keiko and Sasuke would get together) Naruto solidified.

"Wha-What?" he choked.

"Just come. Keiko's up to something, and I don't think it's good."

"Keiko's never up to something good," Naruto snorted.

"Yeah, well–" Neiji began, but for the second time that day, the doorbell rang. "It has to be Tenten this time," and he was right. A smiling, radiant Tenten greeted him at the door and it didn't take much for Neiji to produce a bouquet of roses and handed it to her as he bowed down low. A pink tinge rose across her face, but she accepted them with the same soft smile and Neiji took her by the arm and escorted her outside.

"I'll leave you to deal with it, Naruto," Neiji spoke.

Naruto watched them go sorrowfully and it took a lot of the little self-control he had to keep himself from yelling, "Don't go Neiji! Don't leave me alone with her!" But as said before, he didn't, and unwillingly closed the door. He let out an inaudible sigh, before venturing to the living room where Sasuke and Keiko sat, quietly sipping their drinks that the maid had brought them earlier.

Keiko looked up when Naruto entered the room with one eyebrow raised an inch above the other, but Sasuke averted his glance when Naruto's eyes met his.

"So you finally came," Keiko said, her face contorted into a fake but composed smile.

"Yea, I guess I did," Naruto shrugged as if it didn't matter much to him. He invited himself into the company and sat down across from Sasuke and Keiko, who were, 'lo and behold, sitting on the same couch, a little too close for Naruto's comfort.

Their was an awkward silence, but Keiko, who was known for talking and talking and never stopping, was quick to start a conversation, a not very pleasant conversation, but a conversation nonetheless. "So how has work been, Sasuke," she purred, closing in the already small gap between them.

Sasuke's face twitched but he replied, "Nothing out of the ordinary."

Naruto frowned, he felt his temper rising, "You call what happened 'nothing out of the ordinary?' Does this happen often? Are you always –"

"Calm down, Naruto," Keiko made a face. "Are you always this ah-nnoying?"

"Calm down yourself, Keiko! Are _you_ always this annoying?" Smoke was rising from the top of his head like a volcano about to blow. "What's your problem? You just.. You're just a damn bloody whore if there was every one!"

Keiko just smiled her fake smile which just pissed Naruto off even more and returned back to her high, whiney voice, "Gawd, Sasuke-kun, how can you stand him?"

"I don't –"

"Yeah," Naruto was now completely fed up, "He doesn't stand me. He _sleeps _with me."

Sasuke jerked forward, "Wha-What?"

"Yeah, that's right. This morning, you were moaning my name over and over and over again. It kept me awake all morning."

It was Sasuke's turn to blow up, "What are you talking about, Naruto! If you didn't like it, then why didn't you wake me up and tell me to leave?"

"Oh, Sasuke, after all we did last night…"

Sasuke's face was scrunched up with confusion and distress, not to mention a hint of anger.

Keiko took this as a cue to start ranting again, "Wow, Naruto. Who's the whore now? Uh- let me guess… YOU! You know what really kills me about you? It's how –"

"Uh.. I'm going to take a drink of water. I'll be back later," Sasuke's face, now redder than even the time they met in his room, quickly left and Naruto was not sure whether to be thankful or ungrateful.

After a few seconds, Naruto challenged Keiko again, "It hasn't even been two months since Gaara died yet you're already strutting your slut around."

"Is there a rule that says your boyfriend has to have died for 2 months until you can start dating again? If I remember correctly, Gaara didn't even wait for a full day after he broke up with you before he started going out with me," she waved her hand in the air and snapped it in Naruto's face.

Naruto gritted his teeth and his fists shook with anger, "Gaara… That was only because you tricked him!"

"Can't accept the fact that he never loved you as much as he loved me, can you?" Keiko snorted, all the pretense of trying to be the perfect angel for Sasuke disappeared from her face. "But you," her chest was heaving, in, out, in, out, her anger was seeping through her body, "YOU! You are one of those people I hate. Worthless homosexuals that spoil the community and everything in it. Selfish brats, consumed with greed and are only happy with beings like themselves, of the same sex."

"I've never asked your opinion of me! I didn't ask you to analyze me!" Naruto's voice thundered, to be insulted like that!

"Well, it's time you learned your lesson. No one wants you around here. You're… a monster," she breathed angrily.

Naruto's thrust his fist against her petty little face and easily hit her with a force that could crush a child's head within minutes, but Keiko was not a weak girl. She was much more.

"You want to fight, do you? Sasuke would never accept you for you are. A monster, inside and out, that's what you are. A gay monster that seeks to help no one, but himself."

Another strangled scream came out of Naruto's lips as he ran forward to hit her again, but Keiko was prepared. She pulled out a gun from under her coat and started firing at him. Naruto, being the fast man he was, managed to dodge most of them except for this one that cut off an inch of his blonde hair. Bullets were soon wedged throughout the room and it was near impossible not to notice them.

Sasuke, hearing all this commotion (which mainly consisted of Naruto's cussing) quickly came and was appalled by what he found going in his what used to be beautiful living room.

"Keiko! Drop that gun this instant!" Sasuke growled angrily.

Keiko, who now sported a large bruise under her right cheekbone, and several long tears in her clothing, stopped shooting, but her long, slender fingers were still wrapped tightly around her gun.

Naruto started chortling, and soon it grew into a full-length laugh. He was soon choking with tears and had to bite his lip to quiet down, but even this tactic wasn't strong enough to stop him.

Keiko's eyes narrowed and raised her gun again. It let out a soft click, "SHUT YOUR TRAP, YOU FUCKING MORON! OR U'LL GO TO HELL BEFORE THE SUN DIES OUT!"

"Put that gun down, Keiko," Sasuke ordered, his voice full of authority.

Keiko didn't. Instead another shot rang out, but Naruto was prepared, he ducked and rolled off to the side, towards Sasuke and was up again in a flash.

"You betrayed him. You… You…" Tears were now officially pouring down her face, her breath became heavier as she tried to maintain her stance, "Every night, he… died a little more.. BECAUSE OF YOU!" Keiko screamed, her gun posed and bullets flew out in such a wild manner that came streaking through the air in every direction that Naruto could only dream of dodging them. He was confused. Who had Keiko been talking about? It couldn't have been Sasuke, but Gaara?

It was Sasuke who had ran in front of him and turned to the side, taking every bullet coming their way, and grabbed Keiko firmly by the hands and took the gun. Every couple of inches from his left shoulder down to his ankle was a bullet lodged carefully into the flesh of his body causing blood to run down from his body. Keiko was now shaking so much that she fell down the floor and fainted. Naruto managed to run to the phone, which had luckily escaped this hell in one piece, and quickly dialed in the emergency number to the Ha Corp.

"Naruto, you bastard," Sasuke groaned, "Fuck.. Help me get up." Sasuke who had fallen to the floor besides Keiko was now wincing with pain.

Naruto ran to him and quickly supported him to the nearby couch where they had been all sitting just a while ago.

And in the next hour or so, the ambulance arrived and quickly shipped him off to the hospital where he had been just the day before and managed to take out most of the bullets and transmit him some more blood so he wouldn't die of blood loss…

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A/N: And that's how the chapter ends. Sorry for the long wait! Really sorry, but you'll have to expect the next chapter in 2 – 5 weeks. So much to do this month and I'm lacking a bunch of community service hours. Well, I hoped you enjoyed it.

The title of this chapter – Kisses from Keiko, was because I was originally going to have Keiko and Sasuke kiss, but it just didn't work. But I like the title and so it stayed that way and well, the bullets will just be the kisses for now.

Please review!


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